Debora Carr, (Debi Carr #1983) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning a beginner level Little Squirts badge.

"Last week ( 11/07/2011) I went around the house and oiled all of the door hinges and even fixed a stuck door lock. I cleaned and oiled all of my gardening tools and put them away for winter. We don't have any bicycles around so I couldn't do any of those.

Miranda Pace, (Miss Miranda #3535) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a beginner level Aprons badge.

"I had some fabric my Momma had given me. I intended on making cafe curtains, but after deciding we would not stay in this house more than 1 year, I decided I essentially did not want to waste the material. So, I used it for the apron instead! It's a pretty yellow gingham with an aqua and yellow plaid, a brown gingham trim and three vintage buttons. I started on Veterans day and finished it Monday evening and have been using it in the kitchen ever since. Never thought I could get used to it, but an apron sure comes in handy!

I had a couple of very small mistakes, but turned them into an excuse to embellish them with vintage buttons. It has been a lot of fun to use in the kitchen since I finished it!"

Miranda Pace, (Miss Miranda #3535) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a beginner level Buttoned Up badge.

"I have been collecting buttons almost as long as I can remember. When I was a little girl, I would dig through my mother's button box as she sewed. I began my own collection when I started sewing regularly. Many of them, especially the shell and mother-of-pearl buttons, were inherited. Some were purchased from a wonderful lady at the antique mall who sells them in jelly jars. I got the tins from another lady at the antique mall. I keep good buttons from clothes that have worn out, as did my grandma's friend. It Amy's (her friend's) practice of tying re-used buttons together that inspired me to do the same.

A good collection of buttons is almost a living thing! It starts, it keeps going, it might even get passed on like portions of my mother's original box were! I could not tell you when my collection actually started, as many of them were given to me by my mother, who got them from her mother, who got them from her friend, Amy, long before my mother was even married, let alone before I was born. There are a LOT more buttons, some on cards, that I could not fit into the shots."

Miranda Pace, (Miss Miranda #3535) has received a certificate of achievement in Cleaning Up for earning a beginner level Shopping Green badge.

"I started collecting these bags for ease of use. My mother started working for a major grocery store chain in Texas a few years ago, and got some of these bags for me. I even have 3 insulated bags. Some others were given to me. I have even more than shown here, and some times I use them for projects around the house. I use them as often as I can when I shop.

I have a GREAT collection. My favorite would be the purple one with the green skull & crossbones. It was given to me by a roadie for one of my two favorite bands. I bought the band's album on vinyl, and the roadie caught me talking to the lead singer and found out that I was a friend of their old bass player. He threw in some stickers for good measure!

Even my "farmergirl kitty", Pepper Jean, seems to approve! (she tried to climb in them while I was taking pictures)"

Miranda Pace, (Miss Miranda #3535) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a beginner level Sew Wonderful badge.

"I have kept a sewing kit for as long as I can remember, but never a pin cushion *I* made. The box is a tin Harley Davidson lunch box bought YEARS ago by a friend on an Apache reservation. I have MANY more threads than what I keep in the box, but those are the basic colors, a quilting thread, and my beading thread. I keep a pair of scissors in the box, a box with extra buttons and snaps, bees wax (a trick I picked up for lubricating thread), Tape measure, tailor's pencil, seam ripper. The pin cushion is hand made and includes a doily I bought for $20 at an antique store, and a beaded rosette I made, centered around a black crystal bead from a string bought by my darling man. I keep my straight pins there, while my needles, nippers, beading needles, and safety pins stay on the flower shaped "chatelaine" I made (thanks to the girls who inspired the Veterans Day poppy theme!)

It's perfect! The lunchbox was in use long before I started the merit badge quest, and came with us to Lubbock and Oklahoma on vacation. The pin cushion is fantastic and the chatelaine comes in REAL handy!

Crystal Koelzer, (Crystal Koelzer #3539) has received a certificate of achievement in Cleaning Up for earning a beginner level Shopping Green badge.

"As I was pulling out my shopping bags I realize that there are more than six bags, more like six kinds of bags. Living in Germany we have had to use the reusable. They don't do plastic bags. If you don't bring your own bags you are carrying handfuls of groceries out. And every store has their 'named' bags. I don't know if it is a shopping faux pas around here to use one bag at another store so I have bags for every store I shop at. I do send them home to family too :) Especially the insulated ones.

Erika Endler, (Apache Lady #3628) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning a beginner level Know Your Roots badge.

"I've been working on an online family tree for a couple of years. I recently had a Halloween party with about 20 of my family members showing up, in costume of course! Whenever the "hens" of the family get together, the stories of the good old days come out.

Whenever we have family get togethers I try and to jot down as much information as possible, people, places and events. This last time I got to hear more of the wonderful stories my mom and all my aunts spent on Uncle Raymond's ranch. We were carving pumpkins and all the stories about pumpkins and roasting seeds, and the big fall harvest festival at the ranch. I wish I could have been there! All this I try and incorporate in our family tree, I have over 100 members now!"

Jennifer Jill Greenfield, (Draiodoirmna #752) has received a certificate of achievement in Cleaning Up for earning a beginner level Going Green badge.

"I have completely rid my house of chemical based cleaners. If I purchase a cleaner, it is an earth friendly cleaner. My mission statement is "My mission is to sustain myself, my life, and my home without dependence on harmful chemicals or synthetic/unnatural substances. I will only use cleaning substances that are safe for me and mother earth." I have multiple notebooks of green living ideas as well as recipes for housecleaning and body care products.

It's great. I feel much better knowing that there are no chemicals in my house. Because I am now making many of my own cleaning products, I save money as well."

Jennifer Jill Greenfield, (Draiodoirmna #752) has received a certificate of achievement in Farm Kitchen for earning an intermediate level Organic on a Budget badge.

"My food philosophy is that all grains need to be soaked/sprouted in order to reduce the phytic acid and therefore making the grains more digestible. So, I cannot use the Budget Mix for that reason. When I do want to use a grain, I start with the basic form of the grain. For example, if I want to use wheat, I soak wheat berries and then sprout them over a few days. Then I dehydrate them and grind them up to use. It's much less time consuming than it may appear and very inexpensive. I either grow my own veggies organically or buy organically at the farmer's market. If I buy tropical fruits, they are always organic at the grocery store.

I have cut my grocery budget by at least 25% in the past year. When I'm feeling generous, I buy some cast iron bakeware as an indulgence."

Barbara Roberts, (Healthy Eating #2237) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning an expert level Entrepreneurial Spirit badge.

"Woo Hoo FINALLY I have finished my book! This is the closest I can come to shouting it out. For five years I have working in some form on this book. It is the culmination of my passion for helping others to gain optimal wellness.

First it was to be a program at a Wellness Center, then I did a website, and now, at last, a book called "Alive Health Recipe Book Healthy Eating On The Run." I don't have to buy flowers for myself - my sweetie did that for me the day the book debuted at the Expo on November 1, 2011.

I am a published author now on Amazon! This book was the last part of my quest to get this information out to people. It can be found by searching for the title above or by going to https://www.createspace.com/3656249 and ordering directly from that site.

It's just in time for Christmas and would make a wonderful gift for yourself and all of your loved ones. Have a blessed holiday season!"

Barbara Roberts, (Healthy Eating #2237) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning an intermediate level Lend a Hand to Families badge.

"When my next-door neighbor had to go in for surgery, I made up some of my raw Marinated Kale and some gluten-free banana bread for her. When she got home from the hospital, I took seven days worth of meals down to her to help out while she recuperated from the surgery.

All who tried the food said they loved it. They weren't afraid to try something different for a change.

Even though this was for a man and not a woman, I think it qualifies. A neighbor of mine had his house foreclosed on and I, along with many others in the neighborhood, helped him pack up his belongings and move them out. All told, I spent about a full work week (40 hours) in helping him move out and then set up his home/office in his new place on the neighboring street. He was pretty traumatized with it and just about fell apart, but we all pulled together for him. Hopefully, he can overcome it."

Barbara Roberts, (Healthy Eating #2237) has received a certificate of achievement in Farm Kitchen for earning a beginner level Self-sufficiency badge.

"Now that it is Autumn, I have harvested my herbs that I grew during the summer and have dried them in my Excalibur dehydrator. I have four bottle of curly leaf parsley, three bottles of flat leaf parsley, two bottles of Greek oregano and one of thyme.

The only thing that didn't dry well was my basil and I don't know why that didn't work. I'll have to do some research on that.

I had been saving empty spice bottles for years and I put dried herbs into each of these. I didn't make blends because I didn't have enough different kinds of herbs, but I made labels for them on my computer and some of these will be Christmas gifts this year for friends and family. I'm very pleased with the way they turned out."

Barbara Roberts, (Healthy Eating #2237) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning an expert level What's Your Beef? badge.

"Mt. Valley Farms in Ellijay, GA is where I buy my grass-fed, grass-finished beef and free-range Heritage pork. Their farm has been in the same family since 1826 and they are USDA certified to sell meat by the piece. They also sell eggs and raw milk for pet consumption only.

They just never changed to the "new" way of handling their animals so they are still raised the old-fashioned way.

I interviewed co-owner Suzy Wright about the farm, and put the article in the November 2011 e-newsletter that I send out monthly. It was quite fascinating learning about how Frank Wright's mother still cooked three meals a day from scratch on a wood stove up until 1962, among other things! She just saw no reason to change what she had been used to.

Barbara Roberts, (Healthy Eating #2237) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning an intermediate level Horse Dreams badge.

"The book "The Soul of a Horse" was just an awesome volume to read and Joe Camp's website had great pictures too. I have loved horses since I was a kid and it is so wonderful to find someone who treats them right and understands them as well. I never had a horse of my own but I have interacted with them quite a bit over my lifetime.

One day while reading the "American Profile" in the Sunday paper, I came across an article on a breed of horse I had never heard of before.

Being as how I taught Ballroom Dancing for 26 years, I had to find out about a type of horse called a Fox Trotter. This breed walks with their front legs and trots with their back ones, which results in a gait so smooth that the rider appears motionless in the saddle.

Settlers in the region around the Ozark Mountains developed the multipurpose horses about 150 years ago because they needed a versatile horse that could serve their every need.

These horses served as both a working horse and a traveling one when driving cattle over the mountains to markets in St. Louis. They're very sure-footed and gentle. That sounds like my kind of horse and I would love to ride one some day!"

Barbara Roberts, (Healthy Eating #2237) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a beginner level Safe Toys badge.

"Since I needed to re-learn how to crochet, I decided to start out with a fairly simple project. I had seen something called a "Hacky Sack" online somewhere and thought that might be a nice, safe toy to make for a child. Unless they throw them at their siblings, that is!

I used up a bunch of small left-over bits of yarn that I had around the house for years, so it helped to clean out some stuff too. I love multi-tasking! I goofed a little while changing colors on these, but most people wouldn't be able to tell, least of all children.

These will go to a local toy drive that my chiropractor holds each year. Hopefully they will bring pleasure to some children somewhere."

Carrie Goad, (Homestead Dreams #3028) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a beginner level Sew Wonderful badge.

"I compiled a sewing box with all the required items. I also made a set of homemade pincushions from an online tutorial.

Wonderful. I have a bunch of sewing projects planned so this was a great badge to start with. While I had some of the items, just needing a little dusting off, others I had to actually get and pull together. Now I have all the sewing basics in one place! And in making my adorable set of pincushions (the mushroom house and toadstool cottage) my daughters were inspired to whip out their needles and thread and try their own hand at it :)"

Emily Race, (Simply Satisfied #3591) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning a beginner level Farmgirl Gratitude badge.

"In thinking ahead I thought this would be a great badge to work on before Thanksgiving. I read one or a few entries of The Book of Awesome everyday, then added to my own gratitude list. Some days I had a few things and couldn't pick. Other days were harder and I would have to read back through my entries to make sure that I wasn't repeating one.

It was great. I very rarely was stumped but it was very enjoyable to focus on the good things in my day. Even on frustrating days at work or days our wonderful daughters were driving me mad there was always something great to focus on."

Barbara Roberts, (Healthy Eating #2237) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning an intermediate level Families Forever badge.

"Although I do own a TV, I never watch it as I can't stand the stupid thing. However, my sweetie Brian does, and I wanted to see if we could do more things together. We have no children, so it's just the two of us.

Two things we did was splurge and go to see the last "Harry Potter" movie on the IMAX screen with another couple. It was an hour and a half away from us, we saw the first show, and then had lunch afterwards. "Dinner and a movie" seems so common, but we almost never do things like that.

The other thing we decided to do was to take a Master Naturalist course that was offered in our area. It was an eight week course that met once a week and we learned things like orienteering (learning to red a compass like the one here), native plants, how to identify plants and trees, endangered species, etc.

It was so much fun to spend seven hours together every single week, and Brian is much more aware of nature around him now.

Jonna Nesbella, (Scout #2452) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning an expert level Quilting badge.

"I learned three new techiques-Applique-Quilt as you go-Rag QuiltingMy expert level project wasRadiant StarI taught more than five people to quilton 9/10/2011 I taught them to make a reversible table runner and a rag quilt- it was great fun!

It was fabulous! I loved teaching others something new and now I have a beautiful quilt!"